LeBron Tracker Day 1: The King reportedly starts working the phones

With the NBA Finals and NBA draft behind us, all attention now shifts to the start of free agency on July 1 — and, more specifically, to the free agency of LeBron James. The best basketball player on the planet has the right to hit the unrestricted market once again, and as was the case in 2010 and 2014, the entire basketball-watching world will be waiting on his next move. So, while we’re waiting, here’s the latest in LeBron-related news and notes:

The usual suspects, then — players gifted enough to move the needle in their own right, but who will likely sit tight until LeBron makes his call, one way or another.

For what it’s worth, Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports reported Saturday that Houston is “fully confident” that Paul — who helped the Rockets post the NBA’s best record this season, who reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in his career before being cruelly forced to bow out after Game 5 with a hamstring injury, and who will also be an unrestricted free agent come Sunday morning — will stay put in Texas. However, Amick also reports that the Rockets “appear resigned to the fact that James won’t be coming their way.”

if LeBron’s purported preferred running buddies aren’t actually running anywhere, and if Daryl Morey can’t move heaven and earth to get James to Houston, then perhaps the odds that James might stay put rise, too. Of course, everything’s subject to change in the NBA, and quickly … especially once LeBron starts making calls.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported Monday that, should he choose to decline his player option and hit the market, James “has no intention of hearing elaborate pitch meetings from teams,” which sounds about right.

At this point — after 15 years as a pro, eight straight trips to the NBA Finals, three championships and two high-profile free agencies — James doesn’t need to hear a sales pitch from teams about why they’re the best fit for his services, and he’s not going to be wowed by an elaborate light show, or whatever. He might not know yet exactly what he wants, but whatever it winds up being, he knows that he’ll get it and how he’ll do it. Letting potential suitors with whom he’ll deign to take a meeting know that they don’t need to set up a dog-and-pony show sounds downright benevolent. (Especially if you’re one of those team staffers who’d be tasked with doing that instead of having a burger at a July 4 cookout, or whatever.)

LeBron changed his Twitter header and profile picture!

As of this weekend, LeBron changed his profile picture from one of him as a small fry to one of him playing high school ball …